Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Prime Minister's statement of 22 September 2020, Official Report, if the Government will publish the evidential basis for the effectiveness of implementing a 10pm curfew for pubs in slowing the spread of covid-19 infections.

The Government receives a range of inputs in order to make all of its decisions relating to COVID-19 restrictions, including monitoring the impact of restrictions in local areas via the Joint Biosecurity Centre and monitoring international experience.

These restrictions on operating hours have been applied in local areas where the evidence suggests it can play a role in reducing the transmission of the virus while allowing businesses to trade for the majority of the evening. We have also seen in Belgium that the package of measures introduced, including early closures in some regions, was effective in controlling transmission rates.

The Government keeps all of its COVID-19 restriction measures under review and will closely monitor the impact of this policy.

Hospitality settings have higher environmental risks than other places. We saw in Bolton how, when the 10pm curfew was deployed as part of a package of measures, the weekly average number of cases fell from 31 to 28 cases per 100,000. Cases were previously higher than anywhere else in Greater Manchester.

This is supported with Public Health England’s Weekly Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) surveillance report highlighted that from 21-27 September, 13% of those testing positive for COVID-19 reported eating out in the time before symptom onset, when there is a high risk of asymptomatic transmission.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies will continue to publish minutes from its meetings and the supporting scientific papers on GOV.UK, as has been the case since the start of the pandemic.